The Bowthorpe Oak

A giant oak tree at Bowthorpe Park Farm, just off the A6121 near Manthorpe, three miles south west of Bourne, has earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records and in 1998 was the subject of a short film on television about its size and longevity. 

The tree grows above a natural spring in a grassy meadow behind the farmhouse and visitors can see it for a small charge that is donated to charity. The legendary Bowthorpe Oak is the largest girthed living British oak and its circumference measures 42 feet. Apart from its great size, it has a rugged bole, gnarled and crooked branches and a great spread of crown. Although its true age will never be known, it is reputed to be well over 1,000 years old and was therefore growing during the time of William the Conqueror (1066-1087) but chains now bind it to prevent it from splitting under the weight of its heavy boughs.

At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, the legendary Hereward the Wake held property around Manthorpe and records indicate that this included Church Farm and Bowthorpe Park. Other records and references to the oak may exist but have yet to be discovered although many notable references do survive from the past 300 years.

There is a hollow trunk and looking upwards you can see a small patch of sky, or leaves, depending on the season. Bartholomew Howlett, in A Selection of Views in the County of Lincolnshire (1805), wrote that in 1768, George Pauncefort Esq "had the interior of the oak floored, with benches placed round and a door of entrance where 12 persons had frequently dined in it with ease. The tree, though not lofty, has a very beautiful head and is remarkable for its very early foliage." The book also contains a detailed drawing by J C Nattes showing the magnificent tree with the door built into the trunk, animals grazing beneath its branches and the stone farmhouse in the background.

Other references suggest that a former tenant of the farm had a roof installed and used the recess as an additional room while successive generations of children born and raised on the farm have played in its branches. There are many other tales about the uses to which the tree has been put. One former owner used to feed his small calves inside the trunk while children from the Methodist chapel at nearby Manthorpe held their annual tea and treat there.

In 1779, surveyor Andrew Armstrong included the Bowthorpe Oak in the first survey of Lincolnshire. On the map, beside a sketch of the tree, he noted: "The oak is 36 feet in circumference".

The peasant poet John Clare, who lived not far away at Helpston, was also inspired by the tree to write Burthorpe Oak and many times during the past century it has been photographed as a backdrop for gatherings and events. The Bourne photographer, Ashby Swift (1883-1941), used it for a postcard view in 1906 entitled "The Great Oak at Bowthorpe Park" showing the remains of the 18th century door frame compressed into a constantly expanding trunk.

Bowthorpe Park Farm enjoys a beautiful setting on the side of a hill with a stone farmhouse that is over 400 years old. The surrounding area was originally Bowthorpe Park, hence the name of the farm, and in 1226, Sempringham Priory acquired the manorial chapel which stood there but it has gone, together with its accompanying manor house. The grass in the parkland that remained was lifted during the Second World War and the land cultivated as part of the drive to produce more food for home consumption. Manthorpe village can be seen a few fields away on the next hill and there is an attractive pond alongside the entrance track to the farm. The family who now run the farm welcome visitors throughout the year to take a look at their activities and their busiest period is during the lambing season in the spring, a favourite time for school parties. 

The oak tree, however, is now at risk from the weather because of its old age, and one of the larger branches was ripped off during severe storms in the Bourne area over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 26th/27th October 2002 when wind forces reached 90 mph but the owners of Bowthorpe Park Farm gave assurances that it would survive.

As the year closed, the massive tree was named as one of the Fifty Great Trees for Fifty Great Years that had been selected from around Britain to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. The choice was made by the Tree Council, a national conservation organisation founded in 1974 with support from the Department of the Environment and four years later, it became an independent registered charity. The council's aims are to improve the environment in town and country by promoting the planting and conservation of trees and woods throughout the United Kingdom, to disseminate knowledge about trees and their management and to act as a forum for 150 other organisations who are working together for the protection of trees throughout the country. 

The list was drawn up after taking advice from tree wardens around Britain, the 7,500 members of a network known as the National Grid Tree Warden Scheme, who are appointed by parish councils and other local authorities and community groups. Between them, they nominated hundreds of trees from which the final 50 were chosen with the criteria that they should be impressively large, ancient, rare, striking, or the stuff of history and legend, and it was adjudged that the Bowthorpe Oak fully justified its place on the list. 

REVISED MAY 2016